Santaland Diaries, Our Elf Names, the Inspiration for Ferrell Elf movie, and Christmas in NYC

Welcome to the Torg Stories Podcast! On this episode we discuss David Sedaris’s account of working as a Macy’s elf in what the store called Santaland. The story is David Sedaris’s account of two Christmas seasons he spent working as an elf at Macy’s Department Store in New York City.

Anne, have you been to New York or Macy’s for Christmas? I’m guessing you haven’t been to see Santa?

Sections to Read for Discussion:

1. Read page 5 about Sedaris’s move to NYC. Anne, what were your expectations for the move to LA?
2. p. 13 about Sedaris Elf name: his was Crumpet. Remember the SNL elves skit Alec Baldwin was Winter’s Breath. Anne, I had you as Sour Patch. It’s candy. Yay! It’s sour, a little like your enthusiasm for projects or outlook on a situation. For example, sour on motivational sayings or the Colts prospects. Megan said Dribbles for me, because of basketball, and I thought that worked.
3. Keep reading the rest of p. 13 for an interaction with a customer.
4. P. 21 pretty funny SatanLand section.
5. P. 30. Some short diary snippets to read. LET’S TALK ABOUT A 7 DAY DIARY for next week’s podcast. Maybe we will suck at it but an interesting challenge. Fever Pitch was a fan diary. How many words can we manage? We can give ourselves one day where we fail to do it.
6. Is p. 39 the only heart warming part of the story?

Sedaris line that sparked my own memories:

1. Everything about the cash register intimidates me. p. 7. I never got it right at the Queens golf course.

Information in the story:

1. On a busy day, Twenty-two thousand people come to visit Santa. Looks like these days you need a reservation. Click here.
2. Macy’s has two jail cells on the balcony floor and it apprehends three thousand shoplifters a year. p. 10. Here is a 2003 New York Times article about the jail cells.

What work stories could you write?

1. I did write a Russell’s Old Trading Post story that appears in my collection Horseshoe.
2. I did write a Queens Golf Course Story, and I can’t even remember if it was published. Racial tension. Police wanting free golf. Me messing up the register. Listening to Yankee games and eating take out.
3. Tree trimming story – guy catching his chest hair and t shirt on fire in the tree, to a lesser degree going out to the house and having a big meal of deer
4. Indiana Beach – the almost wreck, the water skiers and their groupies story
5. Winamac Town Pool – romantic relationships, Michael Tank riding a bike off the diving board, Jim Price and I sent to scrub the diving boards in the rain while everyone else hung out in the concession stand.

Observations about people from Sedaris:

1. All of us take pride and pleasure in the fact that we are unique, but I’m afraid that when all is said and done the police are right: it all comes down to fingerprints. (p. 33).
2. Standing in a two-hour line makes people worry that they’re not living in a democratic nation. (p. 33). Atlantic article about how self checkout lines are longer than the regular lines.

Is Sedaris saying anything about the holiday or people?

1. Pretty dark on parenting. The over engineering of the photos and the kids not even getting to talk. p. 31
2. p. 43 Maybe reading the ending from last paragraph on p. 43 to the end.

The Christmas movie Elf with Will Ferrell partly inspired (re)writer and Director Jon Favreau. The elf name Crumpet appears in the Sedaris story and Favreau’s film. David’s sister Amy was also in the movie Elf. Click here to read more about it in Rolling Stone.

Thanks for checking out this edition of the Torg Stories Podcast!